1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a label producing apparatus configured to produce a printed label using a label producing tape, and a tape cartridge used in this label producing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Label producing apparatuses configured to produce printed labels using a label producing tape have been known for some time. In such a label producing apparatus, when a tape cartridge is mounted to a cartridge holder, the label producing tape is fed out from the tape roll housed in the cartridge by feeding device and desired printing is performed by printing device, thereby producing a printed label.
For such a structure that thus feeds out tape from a tape roll, there is known a technique in which the angular velocity of the tape roll is detected to detect the residual tape amount. This prior art utilizes the fact that the rotation of the tape roll accelerates as the residual tape amount in the tape roll decreases. That is, a rotary encoder provided to the tape roll is detected by an optical sensor, and the angular velocity of the tape roll is detected from the pulse output thereof. When this angular velocity reaches a preset angular velocity, an alert regarding the residual tape amount is issued.
With the label producing apparatus described above, it is possible to produce a plurality of types of printed labels, such as a so-called laminated type that is produced by bonding a cover film on that printing was performed to a label producing tape, and a so-called non-laminated type that is produced by directly performing printing on a label producing tape. In such a label producing apparatus, different types of tape cartridges are used in accordance with the type of printed label to be produced. In general, when the type of tape cartridge differs, the thickness of the label producing tape housed in the cartridge and the inside diameter of the tape roll differ.
When the angular velocity of the tape roll is detected and the residual tape amount is calculated from the angular velocity as in the above-described prior art, parameters such as tape thickness and inside tape roll diameter are required, even though this is not clearly stated in the prior art. Therefore, when the prior art described above is applied to the label producing apparatus to detect the residual tape amount of a tape roll in the aforementioned label producing apparatus, the possibility exists that the residual tape amount will not be accurately detected since parameters such as tape thickness and inside tape roll diameter change according to the type of tape cartridge as described above.